"Now Finn, I don't know what happened in Tulsa," Darla said, spitting out the word like it had offended her. "But try not to have a repeat of that, okay?"

I glanced at Gabe, who seemed to be having trouble staying upright. Jonah looked annoyed and my twin looked like he wanted to run from the room. The Tulsa incident was still a sore spot, apparently.

The camera crew was setting up for the Exclusive Behind the Scenes Interview with the King Brothers while Darla, our publicist was drilling us. Or more specifically, drilling me.

I shoved my hands in my pockets and gave her my most winning smile. "Why, Dar? What happened in Tulsa?"

"Finn," Jonah warned me, then turned to Darla "We're good there," he said, speaking for all of us as usual.

"Did something go wrong in Tulsa?" I asked innocently. "What happened in Tulsa, Darla? Is there a problem with Tulsa?"

"Oh my god, stop saying Tulsa," Beau sighed, looking heavenward. My twin shook his head, ignoring me poking him in the ribs, chanting "Tulsa, Tulsa, Tulsa."

"She's right," Bennett added, stabbing his phone and glancing up at us from the metal folding chair. This green room was a piece of shit. "You demanded to know who the interviewer voted for and then challenged him to a fistfight in the back alley when you didn't like his answer. Keep it light this time, Finn. No talking about sex, politics or religion."

"Then what's left to talk about?" I wondered. But everyone ignored me. Darla reminded us of the interviewer's name, which I promptly forgot, and then begged Gabe to remember to mention the tour sponsors. He smiled at her, nodding slowly as he swayed on his feet.

"Jesus fucking Christ," I muttered, watching my second oldest brother, who was clearly shitfaced. Beau shot me a look, and I lifted my chin at Gabe. Beau's eyebrow went up and he sighed. Then lifted his left shoulder in a fractional shrug.

"Stop doing that twin mind reading thing, you're creeping me out," our manager complained. "Finn, come over here, I need to talk to you."

I glanced at Beau again. He gave me an angelic grin and I scratched my nose with my middle finger. He laughed as Bennett took me by the upper arm. "Finnegan's in trouble!" Beau chanted. "Finnegan's in trouble!"

"Grow up and act your age!" I taunted him.

"What, five minutes older than you?" he shot back quickly. Of course it was quick with twenty-one years worth of practice.

Of all the people I wanted to talk to before this interview, Bennett ranked just below the scary librarian with the mole at my grade school. "He's got me! Hurry! Save yourselves!" I cried, reaching out my hands to my brothers. "Don't worry about me!"

"We're not," Jonah deadpanned, but the side of his mouth was twitching.

Good. Fucker needed to loosen up.

"What do you want, Bennett?" I grumbled, once I'd allowed him to pull me into the hallway.

His face slid into that smarmy smile of his that he always put on whenever he wanted us to do something. "I got you a present," he said.

This morning's interview was going to be our forty-ninth morning show appearance on this tour. "Tell me it's a hunting cabin in the Pacific Northwest, fifty miles from any sign of humanity," I sighed.

He blinked a little at that, but recovered quickly and pulled out the engraved flask with an expectant glance. I stared at it as he waggled it in front of my nose. "Aren't you going to take it?"

I wrinkled my nose. "What is it?"

"A flask."

I could feel the heat starting to claw up the back of my neck. I glanced over to check in with Beau. He was way better at knowing when I was about to explode than I was.

But he was wrapped up with some last minute make-up bullshit and I was on my own to deal with my rising anger on my own. "I can see that," I said to Bennett through gritted teeth. "I guess the question now is, why?"

He pressed it into my hand, but I did not close my fingers around it. "It's good stuff," he said.

"You want me to drink it?" I pressed him. Let him say it. "Like, now? We have an interview."

Bennett nodded like it made a modicum of sense. "Right. That's why. You need something to mellow you out."

I grimaced, thinking of Gabe's spaced out smile. "No," I said, keeping my right fist balled tightly at my side.

"Fi-inn." He stretched my name out to two sing-song syllables. He was warning me even as his smile widened. "You remember Spokane?"

I was getting pretty fucking tired of being reminded of these places where my "lack of polish" had gotten me- us - in trouble. "That wasn't fair," I reminded him. "They trapped me."

"They were just interviewing you. They asked you about your love life and you jumped down their throats. If Beau hadn't..."

"Beau didn't do shit," I hissed. "And I fixed it. I sent flowers, just like you wanted." My fist was fucking itchy. "I was a good boy, Bennett."

He smiled and I realized my flaring temper was only proving his point. I swallowed hard as he said, "I still think you should have something to steady you. This is an important appearance."

I glanced back into to the green room and at my older brothers. Beau was hanging back quietly of course. Watching. Jonah looked like he was ready to jump out of his skin with eagerness to get on with it.

But Gabe was on the couch. Just lying back, smiling.

If he was drunk or high, it was good shit. Way too much good shit.

Now I'm no angel. And I wasn't about to look down on my brother for whatever it took to get through these things. But... "How much has Gabe had?" I asked Bennett.

Our manager scoffed. "He's a big boy."

"How much, Ben?" I repeated, stepping closer.

Bennett hated when I shortened his name. So of course I tried to do it as much as possible. His nose twitched as he looked up at me, no longer able to go eye to eye since I had about five inches on him.

He blinked slowly and stepped back.

I fucking knew it.

The heat was working its way across my face now and I acted on my hunch. "And how many pills did you give him?"

For a second I thought I had the slippery fucker. It was high time to send Bennett Vaughn packing, and this was the push we needed. I already knew I had Beau's vote because he and I were a team about this shit. Gabe probably wasn't going to want to lose his pill hook-up though, and Jonah had some kind of fucked-up loyalty to the guy who'd been managing us like a demented stepfather for the past ten years. I'd need something pretty big to prove my point, so that's why I raised my voice. "How many, Bennett?" I bellowed. "How many pills did you give Gabe?"

Bennett stepped back again, and with one quick glance into the green room, he rearranged his face back into that bland, smarmy smile. "Don't know what you're talking about, Finn. You really do need to calm down." He raised his voice. "Don't want a repeat of Tulsa, now."